Academy Chronicles: Can You Feel It?
by Failinhearts
Summary: A what-if scenario based on a scrapped idea for the SSMB Heroes Academy Roleplay's second season. "If you can't be the hero... it wouldn't hurt to be the villain now, would it?"


If you're a reader of the RP SSMB Heroes Academy, you would know the second season revolved around a clone of the Danganronpa V3 character Kaede Akamatsu. In there, she was a hero without her memories. However, when brainstorming the season before it began, one idea came to mind.

What if Kaede was reborn, but as the villain whose only motivation was to find a purpose? It was a different take on the "make your own role" story shown in the final product.

So... while just lying around and listening to music, I thought about expanding this scrapped idea. So in the middle of the night, I put together this short AU one-shot story to make me imagine how this would work. Obviously, this is not canon but I think this is a fun little venture into the behind the scenes process of these stories.

* * *

Can you feel it?

Breathlessness. The bottomless pain. It starts from the neck down… through the shoulders, the stomach, all the way down to the legs. However, you feel like it goes beyond.

Beyond the body. It spreads to the mind. You look up. You're forced to look up. You're always looking up. As you look up…

…You look back. How did it come to this?

You were the hero. The one destined to save everyone from doom. You're their knight in shining armor. You're the one to stop the foul villain in their tracks. You felt good, confident, daring.

This is what you were born to be. What you were _written_ to be.

Oh, how you were wrong.

Can you feel it?

Your delusion crumbling apart as destiny weaves a more dangerous web for you. A web you've ensnared yourself in, waiting to be eaten by the weight of your own failure.

And as it eats you, limb from limb… you realize you never were the hero. That was someone else's role.

"Pathetic" you say to yourself.

"Worthless" you say to yourself.

You didn't save lives, you took one. You started a domino effect in more ways than one which will end in tragedy for many more. You broke many lives. Ruined them, scarred them for eternity.

That's what you did.

Can you feel it?

I could.

I felt it until everything went black. My last thought being "I was never the hero of this story".

…Then everything went white.

I was alive.

Unfortunately.

The pain never left, though. I still feel it. From the neck down and all through the mind, all of it. I can never make the pain end.

My vision blurs as reality settles in.

A lab.

A factory.

A bear.

I see him, and everything I despise in his hand in the form of a mirror. A reflection. I see my hideous face. Cold, blonde hair, menacing purple eyes, a scowl on my face.

"You took quite a beating, huh? Not that you could tell! Welcome to your new body, Kaede! That's your name, right?"

I look up at the bear. I know him well, so how does he not know me?

"You're wonderin' how I revived ya, huh? No big deal. You'll be surprised how much the multiverse has to offer, eh?"

He held his hand to me.

"Name's Monokuma, but I guess that name triggers too many red flags, don't it? Call me Junko, then."

She held her hand to me. I graciously took it.

"I heard about you. Being the hope just didn't work out, huh? Guess you weren't written for the hero gig. So… lemme give you an offer."

My teary eyes looked at my unusual savior.

"Join me. I revived you, cuz this is your calling! You're just a lost, little child!"

I swallow, letting the pain pass before saying my first words.

"…What is my calling?"

"You were created to be a hero, and failed. So… ever thought about being the villain?" She replies.

"I think you can do a damn good job murderin' people with me. There's some people I'm trying to kill, real stubborn heroic types. Maybe you can gimmie a hand."

She took my hand and tapped it. All of a sudden, the pressure forces my hand to erupt a sea of electric energy. My eyes widen at the sight.

"Baaadass, huh? Yeah, touched yourself up with our tech."

I look at the crackling energy erupting within me. My hands shake, I could feel them move, as if performing a somber tune on the piano.

"Old habits die hard, I presume."

Junko puts my hands down.

"Don't use them to play. Use them to destroy. Go on…"

She moves away, leaving behind a man, tied to a chair. He shakes, his mouth gagged. Tears flow from his eyes.

"We picked this guy up, trying to spy on our operations. I waaaas gonna punish him myself but, I thought you could do the honors."

I stand up from my table and walk forward. Walk to the man. He shakes furiously, begging for mercy. For my life.

I could easily save him here and now.

I can save him.

I can save everybody.

…Everybody…

No, that's what got me here in the first place. I can't save anyone.

So might as well do what I do best.

I grip the man's shaking head, easing him into a state of false comfort. I go to his ear and whisper.

"…Please. Help me."

I then unleash all my power into him, frying his brain to a crisp. Blood pours from his eyes, his nose, his mouth as he cries muffled screams before…

…Silence.

My second murder.

"Thank you." I say to him.

It hurt my heart to see him spasm his last bursts of life away… but I made my choice. The clapping of Junko eases the pain as I turn to the bear.

"Welcome to LOSE, Kaede Akamatsu!" He applauds.

I bow to my new teacher. My new master.

Can you feel it?

I can.

The feeling of renewed purpose. Because if you can't be the hero…

…It wouldn't hurt to be the villain now, would it?


End file.
